Use of a monocular see- through head-mounted display while walking: A comparison of different user interfaces

Optical see-through head-mounted displays (OSDs) enable viewing of digital images overlaid on the real world. Because of their hands-free advantage, OSDs are expected to be introduced in the industry as task support tools. In this study, we compared how well users could visually recognize the real world while walking and referring to information using OSDs and conventional media to utilize OSDs safely and efficiently. From the results of the experiment, we verified that OSDs enable an adequate level of awareness and accuracy. In particular, we found that the awareness of central and upper visual fields was greater using OSDs than conventional media. These results suggest that the performance of an OSD as a reference medium while the user is in motion is acceptable, and particularly, the awareness of the front view is higher using OSDs than conventional media.